


it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete

by sweetwatersong



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Drabble, M/M, Post-World War I
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 17:19:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16644473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetwatersong/pseuds/sweetwatersong
Summary: There was no serum, no Dr. Erskine, no Captain America in World War I - but there was a war. And then there's an after.





	it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete

**Author's Note:**

> For anonymous, who prompted "Steve/Bucky: 1920's speak easy." Title from Billy Joel's _Piano Man._

Some men went over to fight the war; some went over to write about it. It’s scrubbing glasses and wiping tables now, with a rag in his hand and a smile on his face, keeping the truth on the quiet and the customers happy. But the dark-eyed men get a drink on the house when they come, gunfire and gas haunting the corners of their gazes, a toast from Steve as he nods to them.

Some men brought back something worth keeping; some brought back less than before.

Once the lamps dim he finds Bucky in the corner just behind the bar, the singer’s voice crooning around them like a shield against the cold. He saves up those moments when his lover smiles like he hasn’t a care in the world, like he’s accepted his neatly pinned sleeve, like the grit that wouldn’t let him die has conquered that unceasing battle.

Some men found death when they went over; some found escape in each other.

“Stevie,” Bucky whispers, rocking against his thin body to the gentle tune, and Steve would cry for the joy in that murmur.

The gunfire and gangrene touch the edges of their days, a shadow they will never be rid of, but they have time now, they have each other. So they sway to words he can’t remember, alive and here and breathing through the aftermath of asthma and the mustard gas, and the melody rolls on.


End file.
